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EULOGY 



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ON THE LATE 



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DANIEL WEBSTER, 



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PRONOUNCED BEFORE THE 



FACULTY AND STUDENTS OF YALE COLLEGE, 



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JANUARY IS, 1853. 



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By HIRAM KETCHUM, Esq., 

OF NEW YORK. 



NEW HAVEN: 

PRINTED BY J. 11. BENHAM 




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EULOGY 



ON THE LATE 



DANIEL ¥EBSTEE, 



PRONOUNCED BEFORE THE 



FACULTY AND STUDENTS OF YALE COLLEGE, 



JANUARY 18, 1853. 



By HIRAM KETCHUM, Esq., 

OF NEW YORK. 



^ ■•«» 



NEW HAVEN: 

PRINTED DY J. 11. BEN HAM, 

1853. 






/ / 



New Haven, Yale College, Jan. 20, 1853. 

To Hiram Ketchum, Esq., 

Bear Sir, — We have the honor of transmitting to you resolutions unanimously 
adopted by the students of Yale College, on Wednesday, 19th inst. 

Resolved, That the thanks of the students of Yale College be tendered to 
Hiram Ketchum, Esq., of New York, for the highly instructive and eloquent 
eulogy pronounced by him on the 18th inst., on the late Daniel Webster. 

Resolved, That a copy of the eulogy be requested for publication. 

On behalf of the Students, 

Charles Brooks, 
Albert W. Bishop, 
James M. Gillespie. 



New York, Jan. 22, 1853. 

Gentlemen, — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, 
inclosing the resolutions unanimously adopted by the students of Yale College, 
one of which requests a copy of my eulogy on the late Daniel Webster, for 
publication. 

In compliance with this request, I with great pleasure send you a copy of my 
address, delivered on the 18th inst. 

I wish that this address was more worthy of the subject which it proposes to 
discuss ; but, such as it is, I hope it may furnish some additional inducements to 
the perusal and study of Mr. Webster's works. 

Allow me, gentlemen, to improve this opportunity to return my thanks to the 
Students and the President and Professors of Yale College, for the attention 
they were pleased to give me in the delivery of the address ; and for yourselves 
allow me to tender my acknowledgments for the uniform courtesy which I have 
received from you as a Committee. 

I remain, with true regard. 

Your obedient servant, 

HIRAM KETCHUM. 

Messrs. Charles Brooks, 

Albert W. Bishop, and 
James M. Gillespie. 



ADDRESS. 



Gextlemkn of Yale College : — 

I AM fully aware that I am indebted for the honor of appearing be- 
fore you on this occasion to the fact of my known personal relations 
with our illustrious countr}man, Daxiel Webster — now, alas ! no 
more among the living! This knowledge indicates plainly that you 
desire to know something more of Mr. Webster than an ordinary ac- 
quaintance, or even a thorough knowledge of his public career would 
impart. I shall, to the extent of my ability, gratify this natural and 
very reasonable curiosity. 

I did, indeed, know Mr. Webster somewhat intimately, for the last 
twenty years of his life. That knowledge, increased by a thorough 
study of his character and qualifications, inspired me with an ardent 
desire to see what remained of his life, wholly devoted to the public 
service of his country. I was satisfied that his profound study, and 
close application to the subject, had made him better acquainted with 
the true nature and character of our American Republican institutions, 
than any man among the living or the dead ; I desired therefore that 
this knowledge should be used for the benefit of the country. More 
than all, did I desire, for the sake of the country, and the cause of re- 
publican liberty, and not alone for the gratification of Mr. Webster 
himself, that he should be placed in the highest political position under 
the constitution, where his power and influence might be most effi- 
ciently exerted in giving such a direction to the administration of the 
government as should be felt in all future time. To the advancement 
of this end 1 employed all the influence I possessed to the last hour of 
his existence, but in common with many others, actuated by similar 
sentiments, I failed. 

Now nothing remains but that his example and teachings be used 
to accomplish the great objects of his lite, "the preservation of 



(fi) 

the union, the maintenance of the constitution, and the advance- 
ment of the country to still higher stages of prosperity and re- 
nown." Earnestly desiring that .Mr. Webster's productions should 
be read, and his principles inculcated throughout every portion of this 
country, where can I find more efficient aid to accomplish these ob- 
jects than among the young gentlemen I have the honor to address. 
Collected from every part of the Union, representing many of the most 
respectable families in the land, themselves endeavoring, by the facili- 
ties and inducements here afforded, to become men of distinction, 
what six hundred young men in this country are destined to exert a 
wider influence than the students of Yale College. 

To you however, young gentlemen, let me say, before I proceed 
further, never permit yourselves to despair of the Republic. It is true, 
Mr. Webster is dead, and the country deeply mourns his loss ; it also 
feels the loss of other distinguished men who have been recently re- 
moved by death ; but let us hope that Providence, in mercy to this 
land, hitherto highly favored, will supply their places. Why may not 
that country look to you for such supplies ? You have better oppor- 
tunities for improvement, more facilities, more thorough instruction to 
enable you to rise to eminent positions than ever they enjoyed. I 
entreat you, not only for your own sakes, not only for the honor of 
your alma mater, but for the sake of your countrj', by the most assidu- 
ous application, and untiring study, to improve to the uttermost, the 
opportunities here afforded you. Let every one of you set his mark 
high, and resolve to reach it. I shall fail of my chief purpose on this 
occasion if the secret determination is not formed in the mind of more 
than one young man here to-night, and the secret purpose breathed 
to Him unto whom all hearts are open, that, by his blessing on earnest 
endeavors, the place of Daniel Webster shall he filled. 

It is deeply interesting to all of us to know that in the relations of 
son, and brother, husband, father, friend, and pupil, Mr. Webster 
earned a title to the highest commendation. 

A gentleman of very high reputation, yet living, informed me that 
he resided with Mr. Webster in the village where he commenced the 
practice of law, about ten miles from his father's house — he says " I 
frequently went with him on Saturday afternoon to visit his parents 
and sisters. He was, beyond doubt, an afl^ectionate son and brother. 
His presence ever seemed to light up joy in the family. I saw no 
other indication than that he was a dutiful, loving and beloved son 



(7) 

and brother. His love for his mother was enthusiastic, and that must 
have been from her mental and moral qualities, and not from her per- 
sonal beauty. She was darker than Daniel ; she was very motherly 
and kind. His father was a venerable old man, a man of good, strong 
sense — Daniel ever seemed to venerate him. Daniel Webster always 
respected the authority of his parents." I have seen the copy of a 
letter dated May the 18th, 1802, addressed to a very intimate friend 
and classmate, in which he enumerated the inducements that drew him 
towards the study of the law ; he says, " Firstly and principally it is 
my father's wish. He does not dictate, it is true, but how much short of 
dictation is the mere wish of a parent whose labors oflife are wasted on 
favors to his children ? Even the delicacy with which the wish is ex- 
pressed gives it more effect than it would have in the form of a com- 
mand." Mr. Webster says in a letter dated May the 3d, 1846, " My 
father, Ebenezer Webster, born in Kingston, the lower part of the State, 
in 1739 — the handsomest man I ever saw, except my brother Ezekiel, 
who appeared to me, and so does he now seem to me, the very finest 
human form that I ever laid eyes on. I saw him in his coffin — a 
white forehead, a tinged cheek, a complexion as clear as heavenly 
light ! But where am I straying ?" 

" The grave has closed upon him, as it has on all my brothers and 
sisters. We shall soon be all together. But this is melancholy and I 
leave it. Dear, dear kindred blood, how I love you all !" 



" Of a hot day in July — it must have been one of the last years of 
Washington's administration — I was making hay with my father just 
where I now see a remaining elm tree, about the middle of the after- 
noon. The Hon Abiel Foster, M. C, who lived in Canterbury, six 
miles off, called at the house, and came into the field to see my father. 
He was a worthy man, college learned, and had been a minister, 
but was not a person of any considerable natural powers. My father 
was his friend and supporter. He talked awhile in the field and went 
on his way. When he was gone, my father called me to him, and 
we sat down beneath the elm on a hay-cock. He said, * My son, 
that is a worthy man — he is a member of Congress — he goes to Phila- 
delphia and gets six dollars a day while I toil here. It is because he 
had an education which I never had. If I had had his early educa- 
tion, I should have been in Philadelphia in his place. I came near 



(8) 

it, as it was. But I missed it, and now I must work here.' ' My 
dear father,' said I, ' you shall not work. Brother and I will work 
for you, and wear our hands out, and you shall rest ;' and I remember 
to have cried ; and I cry now, at the recollection. ' My child,' said 
he, ' it is of no importance to me — I now live but for my children — 
I could not give your elder brother the advantages of knowlege, but 
I can do something for you. Exert yourself— improve your opportu- 
nities — learn— learn — and when I am gone you will not need to go 
through the hardships which I have undergone, and which have made 
me an old man before my time." 

I have more than once heard Mr. Webster express the most tender 
affection for the memory of his mother. He said that when he was 
a child his health was very delicate ; he was all head, and his parents 
thought he had the rickets ; his mother took him on horse-back alone 
down to the sea-side — about fifty miles — for the benefit of his health, 
finishing the narration with the inquiry, " Where do you find such 
mothers now ?" 

In a letter to a class-mate, dated December the 8th, 1801, he says, 
" Returning home after commencement, I found, on consideration, that 
it would be impossible for my father, under existing circumstances, to 
continue Ezekiel at college. Drained of all his little income by the 
expenses of my education thus far, and broken down in his exertions 
by some family occurrences, I saw he could not afford Ezekiel means 
to live abroad with ease and independence, and I knew too well the 
evils of penury to wish him to stay half beggard at college. I thought 
it therefore my duty to suffer some delay in my profession, for the sake 
of serving my elder brother, and was making a little interest in some 
places to the eastward for employment." His engagement atFryeburg 
was the result of these efforts. 

The eulogy upon his father's log cabin is familiar to you all. It 
was my good fortune to be present at Saratoga when it was delivered. 
He concludes this touching description of the former abode of his father 
and of his elder brothers and sisters, — " if ever I am ashamed of it, 
or if ever I fail in affection or veneration for him who reared it, and 
defended it against savage violence and destruction, cherished all the 
domestic virtues beneath its roof, and through the fire and blood of a 
seven years revolutionary war, shrunk from no danger, no toil, no 
sacrifice, to serve his country, and to raise his children to a condition 
better than his own, may my name and the name of my posterity be 
blotted from the memory of mankind-" 



(9) 

Although it would be easy and most gratifying to me to do so, I 
need dwell no longer upon the relation of a son and brother. 

Mr. Webster was twice married. The first Mrs. Webster died at 
the house of an old and intimate friend of her husband and herself, in 
the city of New York, more than twenty years ago. I was not then 
personally acquainted with Mr. Webster, nor did I ever see his first 
wife; but I was intimately acquainted with the distinguished physi- 
cian and worthy gentleman, since deceased, and his estimable lady, 
now living, at whose house Mrs. W^ebster was on a visit, accompanied 
by her husband, during her last illness, and where she died. From 
them I have learned that Mr. Webster was a tender and afiectionate 
husband, and that his assiduous care of his wife, and his delicate at- 
tention to all her wants during her last illness, were not only of the 
most exemplary but touching character, such as none but a husband 
of warm affection, and refined sensibility, could have performed. With 
the present Mrs. Webster, an accomplished and excellent lady, I have 
long been acquainted, as with the honored wife of my friend. I can 
personally bear testimony that to her Mr. Webster was all that a faith- 
ful, devoted and indulgent husband should be. He was fond of her 
society — whether at home or traveling abroad, in his own country, or 
in foreign lands, he sought her companionship and never seemed en- 
tirely contented without it. 

That Mr. Webster was ardently attached to his children, and in- 
dulgent, perhaps too indulgent, to all their wants, requires no proof; 
he had to regret, in common with all falhe rs devoted to the public service, 
and I know he did regret, that necessity compelled him often to be ab- 
sent from his children, and prevented his giving their education his 
personal supervision. What his children have lost in this respect, 
his country gained. 

I conclude this topic of my remarks by this inquiry — what highly 
distinguished man in this country, or elsewhere, springing from an un- 
distinguished parentage, ever did so much to elevate his family, and 
do public honor to his kindred blood as Daniel Webster ? 

He was not content that his works should be given to the world 
without making it known that whatever honor these works might give 
him, he desired should be participated by his family. They are con- 
tained in six volumes. The first is dedicated to the daughters of his 
brother Ezekiel Webster, from a desire that the name of his brother 
might be associated with his, so long as anything written or spoken, 

o 



(10) 

by him should be regarded or read. The third is dedicated to his 
dearly beloved wife, Caroline LeRoy Webster. The fourth is dedi- 
cated to his son Fletcher Webster, Esquire. The last volume is de- 
dicated to the memory of his deceased children, Julia Webster Apple- 
ton, and Major Edward Webster. 

The dedications themselves are among the finest efiusions of genius 
and will embalm the names which are the subjects of them. 

I propose next to speak of the character of Mr. Webster as a pupil 
and a student in college. For information on this point I am, of 
course, indebted to others, and I have sought it from the most authen- 
tic sources. A gentleman of high respectabilit}-, now living, writes 
me, under date of 8th January, inst., " Mr. Webster and myself were 
early acquainted. I entered the academy of Exeter, N. H., in July, 
1796, and there found Daniel Webster, a lad of fourteen, engaged in 
English studies, grammar, arithmetic, &c., very modest and unassum- . 
ing but attending closely to his books, and making the most of his time 
and opportunities ; always prompt at recitations, and manifesting to 
his instructors that he understood the subject matter of lessons by his 
persevering industry and stud3%" 

" He did not mingle much with the young lads of his age, gentle, 
men's sons many of them, who had been favored with greater oppor- 
tunities for education and refinement, and looked upon him as from 
the woods, as it were, and rather green, and thought more of their per- 
sonal appearance and fine broadcloth, than of the improvement of the 
mind. It was perhaps impossible that he should not, at times, feel a 
little mortified at the treatment he would naturally meet with, from that 
class of companions. He left Exeter in the fall of 1796, and prose- 
cuted his studies and fitted for college, with Dr. Wood, at Boscawen, 
N. H." 

" I saw no more of Mr. Webster till July, 1798, when I left Exeter 
and entered the then Freshman Class at Dartmouth College, and 
found he had entered the same class the year before. From that 
time our intimacy increased during our college life, and I roomed 
with him in the Senior year. We corresponded afterwards till we 
were severally engaged in the business of our profession. I resided 
in the western part of New Hampshire, and Mr. Webster at Boscawen 
and Portsmouth, in the eastern part, while he remained in the State. 

" Mr. Webster gave early promise of a great man, and evidence of 
a very superior intellect. It seemed never to be necessary for him to 



(11) 

apply himself so closely and laboriously, to become master of the sub- 
ject of his researches, during the college studies, as was the case with 
most of us ; and still he would always appear to have a very correct 
and comprehensive view of the matter under consideration, and show 
that, either from reading, or from deep thought, or both, he had ac- 
quired the necessary and desired results. There was no one more 
correct and honorable in his feelings and general deportment than 
Mr. Webster. He was not particularly intimate with many, but in 
his friendships, professions and college associations, always sincere. 
His habit and manner of study was such, from his intuitive and com- 
prehensive talent, that some have supposed he was not a close student. 
But he held that it was not the man who read the most hours, that 
was sure to be the most successful scholar." 

An aged clergyman, who was also in college with Mr. Webster, 
has kindly communicated some facts in relation to his collejie life. 
From his letter, bearing date the 10th inst., I take the following ex- 
tracts : — " I do fearlessly say that his whole college life, if you look 
upon him as a classic scholar, a friend to good order, and a close ap- 
plicant, is certainly good and worthy to be imitated by any student 
who is permitted to grace the walls of our New England Colleges. 
Let me now specify. His habits of study were good — never knew 
him waste the study hours. He was constant to the recitation, and 
always well prepared. 



" He u'os peculiarly industrious. In addition to his college studies 
I fully believe that he read more than any one of his classmates. He 
read with great rapidity, and remembered all. * * * * 
In social life he was always pleasant. He always, apparently out of 
a sense of duty, attended public worship on the Sabbath. He was a 
strict observer of order, and his mind was too dignified to do other- 
wise. I should have as soon expected John Wheelock, the President, 
to have engaged in disorderly conduct as Daniel Webster. His rank 
was first in the class, so would four-fifths of the class say. 

" I belonged to the same literary society with him, and, conse- 
quently often witnessed his powers as a debater. I am free to say 
that he far excelled. I am decided in the opinion that he then gave 
evidence of his future eminence. 

" He far excelled in writing. He wrote rapidly and retained all 



(12) 

that he wrote. I have known him to commence writing a declama- 
tion after dinner, when he had to speak in the class at two o'clock, 
and in the midst of his writing the liell would ring ; he would go into 
the chapel and speak with remarkable ease. One instance may be 
mentioned when, just as he had done writing, a gale of wind took his 
paper off the table and carried it out of the window, and the last that 
was seen of it, it was going over the meeting house. He went into 
the chapel and spoke the same with his usual ease. I well recollect 
a poem which Mr. Webster spoke before the class which to me was 
a curiosity. Every line ended in i o n. 



'• I am aware that it is said he was no scholar. This comes from 
slanderers, who say " report" and we will report it. It is reported 
that he tore up and stamped on his Diploma. This is false. It is also 
reported that it was with difficulty that he obtained his degree. This 
is also false and proceeded from the tongue of slander. A difficulty 
arose in the class on account of the appointments for Commencement 
so that more than half of the class asked a dismission from College. 
There was a compromise, and those disaffected were excused from 
speaking. Webster therefore did not speak." 

In reference to his habits of study in college, he once said to Pro- 
fessor Sanborn, of Hanover, N. H., in answer to the following obser- 
vation made by the professor : — " Mr. Webster ! it is reported that 
you were an idle student, devoting more time to recreation than to 
study." He replied, with great emphasis — " What fools they must be 
to suppose that man could make anything of himself without study. 
I have a mind," he added, " to give you a chapter in my early history." 
He then gave me substantially the same account which has often been 
published and need not be repeated here. He wished me to understand 
that he studied more hours and with more intense application than 
any other member of his class. 

A ffentleman to Avhom I have before referred, who resided with 
him at BoscaAven soon after he first opened a law office, thus remarks, 
" He slept in a bed at his office, and more than half the winter, I slept 
in the same bed with him. He was then a most indefatigable student, 
at his books untiring. He, I might say, never went to bed before 
midnight. I know this to be so, lor I was studying my classics at the 
same time, and occasionally availed myself of /ws knowledge." 



(13) 

lam quite satisfied that any person who formed a judgment that Mr. 
Webster was not a hard student, at any period of his life, must have 
been led into an error from inferring that he could not study unless his 
eyes were on a book. I have known, personally, somewhat of his 
habits in later years of his life, and I may say that I never knew so 
hard a student. I have sometimes thought that any man who had the 
power of applying his mind to a subject as closely as Mr. Webster, 
and holding it as long under contemplation, could accomplish as much. 
He spared no pains, he withheld no labor in his preparations for great 
occasions. He follovved out every train of thought connected with 
the subject under examination, and never advanced his propositions 
until they had been thoroughly examined. When roused, the mind 
of Mr. Webster was quick in apprehension — none more so, and with 
great rapidity he summoned his intellectual resources of ingenuity or 
acquirement, to the aid of his cause; but he never neglected thorough 
preparation from a reliance on his quickness of parts, or his genius. 
Hence his productions are finished productions, and will bear exami- 
nation. 

His extemporaneous speeches and arguments, and his written pro- 
ductions were thoroughly prepared in thought before he spoke or wrote, 
and he wrote with remarkable rapidity, and made very few correc- 
tions of his first draft. I have in my possession some very able doc- 
uments prepared by him at a single sitting, and without alterations. 
When he was first Secretary of State, I happened to be at Washing- 
ton soon after the appearance of an able letter written by him to the 
Mexican Minister. I made some inquiry about it, and he said, " I 
wrote that letter there,^' pointing to his desk, " at a single sitting." 
I remarked, "I suppose I understand that process, Mr. Webster! you 
had gone ovco- and prepared the subject in your mind — the processes of 
thought were retained in your memory, and when you wrote you only 
copied." He acknowledged that I understood the matter correctly. 

Of all the seasons of the day for intellectual employment, Mr. 
Webster preferred the morning. Oh ! how he loved the morning ; 
his spirit ascended to his Creator on the wings of the morning. Had 
he been a member of this college, he never would have been absent 
at morning prayer. When he returned from his last excursion through 
the State of New York, to which I shall have occasion to refer here- 
after, I went to Albany to meet him. He had made arrangements to 
deliver a speech to the young men of that place. I left New York 



(14) 

the evening previous to the day on which the speech was to be de- 
livered, and arrived at his hotel at a very early hour in the morning of 
that day. I found a servant stirring, and sent him to inquire whether 
Mr. Webster had arisen, and if he had, to present him my card. Very 
soon I received a summon to come up, ftnd there I found him hard at 
work, with his papers before him, preparing his speech. " I have 
been up," said he, " since three o'clock, and I should like to know if 
you ever read poetry," and he then read the few lines of poetry with 
which that speech concluded ; the ink being not yet dry with which 
they were written. 

Will you allow me to read the conclusion of that noble speech, 
though not exactly in place ? 

" Gentlemen, a patriot President of the United States is the guard- 
ian, the protector, the friend of every citizen in them. He should be^ 
and he is, no man's persecutor, no man's enemy, but the supporter 
and the protector of all and every citizen, so far as such support and 
protection depend on his faithful execution of the laws. But there is 
especially one great idea which Washington presents, and which gov- 
erned him, and which should govern every man in high office, who 
means to resemble Washington : that is, the duty of preserving the 
Government itself; of suffering, so far as depends on him, no one 
branch to interfere with another, and no power to be assumed not 
belonging to each ; and none abandoned which pertains to each ; but 
to preserve it and carry it on unharmed for the benefit of the present 
and future generations. 

" Gentlemen, a wise and prudent shipmaster makes it his first duty 
to preserve the vessel which carries him, and his passengers, and all 
that is committed to his charge ; to keep her afloat, to conduct her to 
her destined port with entire security of property and life ; that is his 
first object, and that should be the object, and is, of every Chief Magis- 
trate of the United States, who has a proper appreciation of his duty. 
His first and highest duty is to preserve the Constitution which bears 
him, which sustains the Government, without which every thing goes 
to the bottom ; to preserve that, and keep it, with the utmost of his 
ability and foresight, off the rocks and shoals, and away from the 
quick-sands ; to accomplish this great end, he exercises the caution 
of the experienced navigator. He suffers nothing to betray his watch- 
fulness, or to draw him aside from the great interest committed to his 
care ; but is always awake, always solicitous, always anxious for the 
safety of the ship which is to carry him through the stormy seas. 



(15) 

" Though pleased lo see the dolphins play, 
He minds his compass and his way ; 
And oft he throws the wary lead. 
To see what dangers may be hid : 
At helm he makes his reason sit. 
His crew of passions all submit. 
Thus, thus he steers his barque, and sails. 
On upright keel to meet the gales. 

"Now, gentlemen, a patriot President, acting from the impulses of 
this high and honorable purpose, may reach what Washington reach- 
ed. He may contribute to raise high the public prosperity, to help to 
fill up the measure of his country's glory and renown ; and he may 
be able to find a rich reward in the thankfulness of the people, 

" And read his history in a nation's eyes." 

This is a description of a patriot President, drawn by a son of New 
Hampshire — will you not, young gentlemen and fellow-citizens, with 
me, call upon another son of that same patriotic State, to give us a liv- 
ing exemplification of this portrait? Allow us, honored sir, respect- 
fully to remind you that the power which will soon be committed to 
your hands, is power received from the American people, in trust, under 
the Constitution of the United States, and that the objects of that Con- 
stitution are " to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure do- 
mestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the geiicral 
welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to the people themselves, 
and their posterity ;" that political place, however exalted in itself, 
confers no honor upon its incumbent, but only affords an opportunity 
to a man of noble aims and patriotic purposes to connect his name 
with the glory of his native land. 

But to return to the topic under consideration. It is not to be de- 
nied that Mr. Webster and his friends thought that the government 
of the college, in the distribution of its literary honors, did him in- 
justice ; but that gave him no authority to rebel against that govern- 
ment — nor did he rebel — nor did he cherish ill-will towards that gov- 
ernment ; but in process of time his assistance was required to pre- 
serve the very existence of his alma mater, and that assistance was 
cheerfully rendered by an intellectual effort never surpassed in the 
highest judicial tribunal of the land. 

Here allow me to mention another trait in the character of Mr. 



(16) 

Wt'b^ter. He never indulged feelings of liatrcd or revenge ; he was 
quick and ready to forgive injuries. This characteristic was exem- 
plified in numerous instances in his private and his public life. He 
was a merciful man. To his servants and persons employed by him, 
no man could be more kind-hearted, considerate and generous. His 
hospitality was unbounded. In entertaining his guests, no man made 
himself more affable and agreeable. It would take me hours to relate 
all the pleasing anecdotes that have come to my knowledge in support 
of those statements. 

But one consequence resulted from the disposition and habits of Mr. 
Webster, in these respects. He frequently found himself embarras- 
sed in his pecuniary aftairs, and unable to meet with promptness his 
engagements. This, it must be admitted, was an error, and finds 
no justification in the fact that other great and confessedly patriotic 
nen in this country and in England have been chargeable with the 
same error. Mr. Webster never justified business defalcations of any 
sort, and he never failed to meet a pecuniary engagement of his 
own when he had the means, but, unf^itunately for him, he did not 
always possess the means, and then he felt greatly distressed. How 
keenly he felt the obligation of paying his debts, may be illustrated 
by two well authenticated facts related of him. When he became 
convinced that he must die, he directed the superintendent of his farm 
to take five hundred dollars from his trunk and pay every debt due 
from him in the neighborhood, and recollecting that he had borrowed 
three hundred dollars of a friend in Plymouth, for which he had given 
no evidence of indebtedness, he called for a pen and ink, and being 
supported on his dying bed, he signed a check for the amount, that 
being the last time that he ever wrote his name. It was always a 
remarkable fact that those who most loudly censured Mr. Webster's 
short comings in the payment of his debts, were never numbered 
among his creditors, nor those who had suffered pecuniary loss by 
him. 

In making this confession of the infirmity of our illustrious country- 
man, for such it was, and, frankly admitting that it was an alloy to 
some of his most attractive private virtues, with which it was inti- 
mately connected, allow me to say a word to the men of business in 
Wall Street, State Street, and elsewhere, who, most commendably, 
make it a point of honor and conscience, to satisfy, with exact punctu- 
ality, every pecuniary engagement. Mr. Webster discharged, as far 



(17) 

as man could discharge the great debt that he owed to his parents and 
his kindred blood — he paid twenty shillings on the pound and interest, 
of the claims of his alma mater for his moral and intellectual culture — he 
satisfied, to a large extent, the demands of humanity and friendship — 
he made ample returns to his native State for her early education and 
support — he repaid the commonwealth of his adoption for honors con- 
ferred upon him, by contributing to her prosperity and adding to her 
glory and renown — he answered the calls of patriotism by a life de- 
voted to the service of his country. Now, my business countrymen, 
prosperous and honored as you are, I would not have you abate one 
jot of your punctuality in meeting your pecuniary engagements. I 
know and admit the necessity of such punctuality ; but let me remind 
you that this is not the whole duty of man ; there are other obliga- 
tions in life as urgently imperative on you and me, in the estimation 
of all good men, and of God himself, as the payment of bills of ex- 
change and promissory notes, on the third day of grace. While you 
do the one, neglect not the other, for if you do, you may find, too late, 
the end of your prosperity in a selfish, •demoralized, corrupted com- 
munity, and an enslaved country. " Thou canst not serve God and 
mammon." 

I pass from Mr. Webster's private relations : 

It is universally admitted that Mr. Webster was a man of extra- 
ordinary intellectual powers ; many well-informed persons believe 
that in strength and vigor, and comprehensiveness of grasp, the mind 
of Mr. Webster was never surpassed. Some, professing the highest 
admiration of his intellectual powers, seem unwilling to go any farther 
in praise of Mr. Webster. It seems to me that mere intellect, how 
powerful soever, merits no praise, apart from the uses to which it is 
applied. Great, but mis-directed intellect, deserves censure rather 
than praise. A great mind, occupied in mere barren speculations, 
can hardly command respect. But who knows anything of Mr. 
Webster's intellect except from its productions ? Let us examine, 
then, these productions, in reference to the question — whether he is 
worthy of admiration only as an intellectual prodigy? 

The public speeches, arguments, and State papers of iMr. Webster 
are before the public and well known. I shall examine some of them 
in the course of this discussion ; but first let me speak of his intellect- 
ual exhibitions in the private and domestic circle. Mr. Webster 
possessed very remarkable powers of conversation. General Cass, 



(20) 

he sees the unexampled exhibition of female fortitude and resignation ; 
he hears the whisperings of youthful impatience ; he sees chilled and 
shivering childhood, houseless but for a mother's arms, couchless but 
for a mother's breast, till his blood almost freezes. The mild dignity 
of Carver and Bradford ; the decisive and soldier-like air and man- 
ner of Standish ; the devout Brewster ; the enterprising Allerton ; the 
general thoughtfulness of the whole band ; their conscious joy for 
dano^ers escaped ; their deep solicitude about dangers to come ; their 
trust in heaven ; their high religious faith, full of confidence and an- 
ticipation, are all grouped before him, filling him with reverence and 
admiration. 

The reader is made intimately acquainted with the difficulties and 
dangers which these early settlers of New England were compelled 
to encounter ; he traces the progress of their principles through two 
centuries, and he beholds their development in the institutions of 
liberty under which we live, with all their concomitant Ijlessings — 
nay, he is carried on through the century to come, and beholds the 
countless millions of these descendants of the pilgrims spreading from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific, and is made to unite in the welcome. 
** Advance then ye future generations ! We would hail you, as you 
rise in your long succession, to fill the places which we now fill, and 
to taste the blesssing of existence where we are passing and soon 
shall have passed, our own human duration. We bid you welcome 
to this pleasant land of the fathers. We bid you welcome to the 
healthful skies and the verdant fields of New England. We greet 
your accession to the great inheritance which we have enjoyed. We 
welcome you to the blessings of good government and religious liberty. 
We welcome you to the treasures of science and the delights of learn- 
in"-. We welcome you to the transcendant sweets of domestic life, 
to the happiness of kindred, and parents, and children. We welcome 
you to the immeasurable blessings of rational existence, the immortal 
hope of Christianity, and the light of everlasting truth." 

On arising from the perusal of this oration, we feel indeed the re- 
sults of a highly intellectual power, for we have been made to think 
and to reason, and thus our minds have been strengthened and ex- 
panded, and our hearts have been animated with the highest and 
noblest feelings and purposes. 

In further illustration of Mr. Webster's peculiar power in drawing 
the attention of his hearers to the subject under discussion, to the ex- 



( 21 ) 

elusion of every thing else, I would relate two anecdotes. Some 
years ago a merchant of more than ordinary intelligence and discri- 
mination, represented a congressional district in the vicinity of New 
York, in the House of Representatives of the United States. Mr. 
Clay and Mr. Webster were then members of the House. He re- 
marked that when Clay made an effort on the floor, it was a common 
occurrence for members to bestow the highest praises upon his man- 
ner, his gallant bearing, his extraordinary mental powers, and personal 
attractions. When Mr. Webster spoke, the manifestation of approval 
would assume a different form — profound and thoughtful attention 
would be given while he spoke, and when he was through, expres- 
sions like these would be heard. — Well ! I think Webster has proved 
his case — he has put the subject in a new light, and I cannot see how 
he can be answered. In the one case, admiration was expressed for 
the man ; in the other, conviction was yielded to the argument. 

Again — a few years ago, a gentleman of the bar, distinguished for 
his great learning and logical powers, requested me to accompany 
him to Boston, to hear a speech to be pronounced by Mr. Webster, 
in Faneuil Hall. It was in the summer season, after a long session 
of Congress, during the administration of Mr. Van Buren. The 
occasion was a public dinner given to Mr. Webster. 

VVe heard Mr. Webster's speech ; he was laboring under his au- 
tumnal attack of catarrh. After he had closed, I said to my friend, 
" Well ! how did you like him V He answered — " I confess I am a 
little disappointed, although the speech was a very good one." I re- 
marked, in reply, that I thought I had heard Mr. Webster to better 
advantage — " but how long do you think he spoke ?" He said " about 
three-quarters of an hour." It was an hour and a-half by the watch — 
I timed the speech. Here then was a great compliment unwittingly 
paid. I have never known any speaker who had, to the same ex- 
tent as Mr. Webster, the power of putting the mind of his hearers in 
close and intimate connection with the subject under discussion. 

In the year 1826 a very extraordinary event occurred in this coun- 
try. On the anniversary of the National Independence, John Adams 
and Thomas Jefferson, two distinguished cititzens, both of whom were 
members of the Committee which prepared and reported the Declara- 
tion of Independence, both had filled the office of President of the 
United States, departed this life. The event was one deemed worthy 
of an extraordinary commemoration throughout the country. Our 



(22) 

most distinguished orators became pulilic eulogists of the illustrious 
deceased. Mr. Webster was requested, by his neighbors in Boston, 
to perform this office. He willingly complied with that request. His 
oration is before the world, and its superiority to every other pro- 
nounced on that occasion, is as manifest as the light. He not only 
surpassed every other eulogist, but, by a remarkably appropriate and 
felicitous conception, he made himself a member of the Congress 
which, on behalf of the American people, issued the Declaration of 
Independence, and put into the mouth of John Adams, the great de- 
bater of the Assembly, a speech as remarkable in its way as the ever 
memorable declaration itself. If any member of that body, or of any 
other deliberative or popular assembly, during the excitement of the 
revolutionary struggle made a speech more distinuished for ardent 
patriotism, and stirring eloquence than this, the record of that speech 
has not come down to us. 

It would seem that Mr. Webster in this speech labored successfully 
to exemplify his own just and graphic description of eloquence. 

" True eloquence," said he, " indeed, does not consist in speech. 
It cannot be brought from far. Labor and learning may toil for it, 
but they will toil in vain. Words and phrases may be marshalled in 
every way, but they cannot compass it. It must exist in the man, in 
the subject and in the occasion. Affected passion, intense expression, 
the pomp of declamation, all may aspire to it ; they cannot reach it. 
It comes, if it come at all, like the outbreaking of a fountain from the 
earth, or the bursting forth of volcanic fires, with spontaneous, original 
native force. The graces taught in the schools, the costly ornaments 
and studied contrivances of speech, shock and disgust men, when their 
own lives, and the fates of their wives, their children, and their coun- 
try hang on the decision of the hour. Then words have lost their 
power, rhetoric is vain, and all elaborate oratory contemptible. Even 
genius itself feels rebuked and subdued as in the presence of higher 
qualities. Then patriotism is eloquent ; then self-devotion is eloquent. 
The clear conception, outrunning the deductions of logic, the high 
purpose, the firm resolve, the dauntless spirit, speaking on the tongue, 
beaming in the eye, informing every feature, and urging the whole 
man onward, right onward to his object — this, this is eloquence." 

Wherever, on the great national jubilee, the declaration of Inde- 
pendence is read to warm the patriotism of our countrymen, there 
should be read the speech of John Adams, prepared by Daniel 
Webster, in support of that declaration. 



(23) 

I pass, for want of time, the orations delivered on Bunker Hill on 
the occasion of laying the corner stone, and completion of the monu- 
ment. They will give a renown to that monument far more enduring 
than the granite of which it is constructed.' For the same reason I 
cannot stop to dwell upon that noble tribute to his native State, and 
her patriotic, brave and hardy population, contained in his address to 
the sons of New Hampshire. Nor can I even enumerate the other 
speeches made by Mr. Webster in commemorating the landing of the 
pilgrims, all differing, all eloquent, all fraught with the noblest senti- 
ments. But I may be permitted to say that no one of her sons has 
described the natural scenery of New England so graphically, her 
peculiar institutions and her mental and moral characteristics with 
such just discrimination, and commended them with so much filial 
feeling and enthusiasm. His genius has shed its selectest influence 
over every spot consecrated in the affections of New England. If 
that genius has imparted any glory, it has been made to illuminate the 
land of the pilgrims. 

On this point allow me give one extract from a speech made in 
Faneuil Hall, in 1828, when John Quincy Adams was President of 
the United States. 

" It cannot have escaped the notice of any gentleman present, that 
in the course of the controversy, pains have been taken to affect the 
character and success of the present chief magistrate, by exciting 
odium towards that part of the country in which he was born and to 
which he belongs. Sneers, contumely, reproach, every thing that 
gentlemen could say, and many things which gentlemen could not 
say, have been uttered against New England. I am sure, sir, every 
true son of New England must receive such things, when they come 
from sources which ought to be considered respectable, with a feeling 
of just indignation ; and when proceeding from elsewhere, with con- 
tempt. If there be one among ourselves, who can be induced, by any 
motives, to join in this cry against New England, he disgraces the 
New England mother who bore him, the New England father who 
bred and nurtured him, and the New England atmosphere which first 
supplied respiration to those lungs now so unworthily employed in 
uttering calumnies against his country. Persons not known till yester- 
day, and having little chance of being remembered beyond to-morrow, 
have affected to draw a distinction betvVcen the patriot States and the 
States of New England ; assigning the last to the present President, 



(24) 

and the rest to his rival. I do not wonder, sir, at the indignation and 
scorn which I perceive the recital of this injustice produces here. 
Nothing else was to be expected. Fancuil Hall is not a place where 
one is expected to hear with indifference that New England is 
not to be counted among the patriot States. The patriot States ! 
What State was it, sir, that was patriotic, when patriotism cost some- 
thing ? Where but in New England did the great drama of the 
Revolution open ? Where, but on the soil of Massachusetts, was the 
first blood poured out in the cause of liberty and independence ? 
Where, sooner than here — where, earlier than within the walls which 
now surround us, was patriotism to be found, when to be patriotic was 
to endanger houses and homes, and wives and children, and to be 
ready also to pay for the reputation of patriotism by the sacrifice of 
blood and of life ?" 

Before I leave this topic, I hope to be pardoned a few plain re- 
marks. 

If the spirit of my dear departed friend is permitted to take cogni- 
zance of what occurs here to-night, it will not, I am sure, hear what 
I have to say with displeasure. If the pilgrim fathers admired, and 
I know they admired, high intellect, combined with an intelligent, 
firm, and undying attachment to their principles ; if they had the 
courage, and they never wanted physical or moral courage to uphold 
efficiently and zealously one of their own number, possessing in a pre- 
eminent degree these characteristics, then have their present descend- 
ants sadly degenerated. Nothing will more astonish posterity than 
the fact, that the sons of the pilgrims inhabiting New England, and 
scattered in vast multitudes all over this widely extended country, 
possessing more intelligence, more power, more wealth, more influ- 
ence, by far, than any other body or race of men in the Republic, 
have permitted such a man as Daniel Webster, bone of their bone, 
and flesh of their flesh, and the greatest living exponent of their in- 
herited principles — in his own day and generation unsurpassed in 
patriotism, first in statesmanship, first in experience, and confessedly 
first in intellect, to pass from the stage of life, at the age of three-score 
years and ten, without having been first in political position. 

But it would be a signal injustice to the memory of our departed 
countryman to say that he labored more to promote the honor and re- 
nown of New England than of the United States of America. His 
l»atriotism was large and comprehensive enough to embrace the whole 



(25) 

country. His puljlic life was spent in the service of the nation. The 
mottoes — " the country — the whole country, and nothing but the coun- 
try" — " Union and liberty, now and forever, one and inseparable," 
expressed the sentiments which uniformly animated him in the dis- 
charge of his political duties. Nor were his actions inconsistent with 
those sentiments. 

The story of the American Revolution, as sketched by Webster in 
his various productions, with the portraits of the principal actors in the 
drama, as drawn by him, is as interesting as an epic poem. Nor 
are his praise and admiration withheld from eminent citizens who 
have served their country, though not of New England ; Washington, 
Hamilton, Madison, Jay and Marshall have not been postponed in 
his regards, or his commendation, to any sons of the pilgrims. In- 
deed at the hands of no man, in his own time, or since, at home, or 
abroad, has the father of his country — the man of his age — received 
so large a measure of justice as at the hands of Daniel Webster. It is 
gratifying to the friends of Mr. Webster to compare his efforts on a 
subject, worthy of the highest intellectual and moral powers, with 
those of other distinguished men put forth on the same subject. 

Mr. Webster had the sagacity to see that great as was the reputa- 
tion of Washington for his deeds in arms, his patriotism, his fortitude, 
his foresight, his whole conduct as the leader of the revolutionary 
armies, yet his chief merit was as a civilian. I know that he ad- 
mired, revered, and almost adored the father of his country for the 
public ser\'ices performed by him after the peace of '83. When that 
peace was negotiated, and our independence as one of the nations of 
the earth acknowledged, then commenced a controversy, as to the 
formation of a new government, more important in its results than 
the conflict between the colonies and the crown of Great Britain. 
This controversy was maintained through a series of years, and, at 
times, the result was quite as doul)tful, and gave Washington as much 
anxiety as he ever felt in the darkest hours of the Revolution. In 
1786, he says : — " No morn ever dawned more favorably than our's 
did — and no day was ever more clouded than the present. Wisdom 
and good examples are necessary at this time to rescue the political 
machine from the impending storm." Again-*-" How melancholy is 
the reflection, that in so short a time we should have made such large 
strides towards fulfilling the prediction of our transatlantic foes ! 
'Leave them to themselves and their government will soon dissolve.' 
Will not the wise and good strive to avert this evil ? Or will their 
supineness suffer ignorance, and the arts of self-interested, designing, 

4 



(20) 

disaffected and desperate characters, to involve this country in wretch- 
edness and contempt." Had these characters succeeded — his predic- 
tion would have been realized : — " Thirteen sovereignties pulling 
against each other, and all tugging at the federal head — will soon 
bring ruin on the whole." But they did not succeed. Washington 
led the opposing host, and he was again the victor. 

This was the victory that Daniel Webster delighted to celebrate ; 
the successful combatants in this civil strife were the cherished ob- 
jects of his admiration and regards ; to them he considered the coun- 
try, and the friends of liberty every where, under the deepest obliga- 
tion ; in their praise he was always eloquent. They gave us the 
Union, and the Constitution, and without Union and the Constitution 
what would have the Revolution been worth ? It would have been 
worse than nothing. The result of the war would have been more 
disastrous than our former condition. 

The history of this country between the peace of '83 down to the 
close of Washington's administration, was, in the judgment of Mr. 
Webster, of all others the most interesting and instructive to the 
American people, and it was his intention to write that history him- 
self. He had, for some time, meditated this work, and he was fully 
prepared to perform it, as soon as his official term had expired. 

By the aid of Washington the Constitution was made and adopted — 
under his administration it was put in successful operation. But this 
was not enough — nor was it enough that Washington had committed, 
in the most solemn and affecting manner, the guardianship of the 
Union to the American people, as the great palladium of their liberty, 
nor that its beneficent results had outstripped the predictions of its 
most sanguine advocates. Patriotism had yet a work to perform in 
defending and preserving it. Opponents of the Constitution were 
found Avho professed to see defects in it which rendered its preserva- 
tion not desirable ; and who, unless its provisions could be executed 
according to their construction of their intent and meaning, were 
willing to see the United Government abolished. Such men there have 
been — numerous, active and influential, but they found in Daniel 
Webster, while he lived, an opponent always able to refute their 
arguments, demolish tl»eir theories, and defeat their purposes. 

Daniel Webster was the son of a revolutionary soldier — a contempo- 
rary of Washington — like him, the father of Webster was born a British 
subject, like him he had periled his life for his king. Like Washington 
in the maturity of his years, and in the ripeness of his judgment, ap- 
pealing to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for the rectitude of his 



(27) 

intentions, he had cast off his allegiance to his king, and taken arms 
against his government. In the revolutionary war, under the com. 
mand of Washington, he had often periled his life for his country. 
His soul was imbued with the principles of Washington, whom he 
admired above all other men. He believed in God and Washington. 
Washington was for the Union — and so was the father of Daniel 
Webster — Washington presided in the Convention that formed the 
Constitution, and recommended it to the adoption of the American 
people, and Captain Webster was for it, mind, heart and soul. He 
hated tyranny ; he loved liberty, he loved his country, and this hatred 
and these loves he imparted to his children ; they were received into 
the heart of young Daniel as seed sown in a rich soil, destined to 
bring forth an abundant harvest. Often during the long winter eve- 
nings, around the domestic hearth, had the veteran soldier related the 
story of his perils, his privations, and his sufferings ; often had he 
dwelt with enthusiasm on the character of his great chief, the leader 
of the American army. Fancy can hardly forbear to conjecture what 
was the appearance of the young statesman when he heard his vene- 
rated father tell of the wars, the old French war, and the " last war," 
and heard him dilate on the character of Washington. Methinks I 
hear the quick and strong pulsations of his heart, and see his big eye 
glowing, his lip curled, and his fist clenched. 

The following apostrophe is taken from a poetical epistle written 
by Mr. Webster in February, 1601, a little more than a year after 
the decease of Washington : 

" Ah! Washington, thou once didst guide the helm. 
And point each danger to our infant realm. 
Didst show the gulf, where factious tempests sweep, 
And the big thunders frolic o'er the deep. 
Through the red wave did lead our barque, nor stood 
Like Moses, on the other side the flood. 
But thou art gone — yes gone, and we deplore 
The man — the Washington we knew before. 
But when thy spirit mounted to the sky, 
And scarce beneath thee left a tearless eye. 
Tell — what Elisha then thy mantle caught. 
Warmed with thy virtue, with thy wisdom fraught." 

Soon he was taught that the result of the contest was the new 
Constitution ; that was the conclusion of the whole matter. In that 
were garnered up all the trophies that valor, patriotism and \visdom 
had won ; that was to form a more perfect union, and perpetuate the 
blessings of liberty, and to that Constitution his heart clung as to a 
cherished object of affection. 



I, 28 ) 

With a miiul and heart ijubuod with these opinions ami loolinirj=, 
Paniol Wobstor givw up to numhocxl. Vajising over, tor the prosout. 
his aoadiMuio lito, and his brilliant oaroor in tho Honse of Uoproson- 
tativos. wo tind him in tho Senate of the Vnited States. Hero ho was 
coinpellod to enoountor the powerful advocates of the doetrine put 
tbrth bv one of the Soveroijin States of the Vnion, by whioh the au- 
thosity was ohiinuHl for a State to deoUuv a law of Couixross null and 
void. This divtrine was advocated on the tloor of the Senate, in a 
speech distinguished by groat ability ; a speech whioh not oidy at- 
tacked the Constitutional principles which Mr. Webster had learned 
in the school of Washington, but assiiiled with bold invective the in- 
habitants of New England, and esj>ecially of Massachusetts, The 
speech deniauded an answer — that:u\swer must come from Mr. ^^ eb- 
ster. The eyes of the whole country wei-o turned to him. He was 
peculiarly situated: it happened that at the time he had a professional 
eng-agement in the Supivme Court ot the United Slates, to argue a 
cause of gi-eat magnitude and importance for the State of New \ork. 
Ho was acting, too, with a piirty composed of pei-sons drawn from both 
the old political org^anizations. Their views upon constitutional ques- 
tions wer>? supposed to ditier. He might defer his professional en- 
gagement, but how he should be able to speak out with boldness his 
known views on the great constitutional question under discussion, 
without giving oftense to some ot' bis political associates, w"as not 
easilv seen. In this emergency on the mominir of the dav when his 
reply w^s to be made, he consulted an old tiiend who had tbrmoriy 
been attached to the Republican party, and made known to him his 
emKarrassment, staling that if he said anything he must declare his 
own views which w-er<» well known. This friend, who v^-as Mr. Bell, 
of New Hamjxshire, encouraged him to pn>ceed in his own way, say- 
ing it was time the truth should be told. '* Then," said Mr. Webster, 
" by the Messing of God, it shall be told this day." The speech was 
made, and we all know ihe r^-sult. Never v\-as the theory of the 
Con- . more clearly declared, and nothing could be more over- 

whiL . .; :, >aan the argiunent opposed to nuUncation. Nordidhe toilet 
to repel the attack upon New England, while he feiiled not to render 
all due honor to the past history, and the distinguished men of the 
State whose n?prv>sentative made the assault. The political heresy 
of nuUitication was prv>strated by this single blow — never, I hope, to 
rise again. The Constitution may be overthrown by open rebellion, 
but never paralyzed by the eiervise of powers conferred or authorized 
by itself. Fv r this service Mr. Webster received unmeasured praise 



(29) 

from all the free States, and great numbers rif penoos residing in the 
slave-holding .State.?. 

But time rolled on through twentv years, and another criei* arises ; 
again the Union is threatened with dissolution. This state of things 
had been produced by a course of measures in Congress, -n hich Mr. 
Webster had steadily and resolutely resisted. But resistance was In 
vain, and the disastrous result Is now seen and felt in angry, and ap- 
parently irreconcilable sectional strife. What shall be done ? That 
there was real and imminent danger, the most experienced, able, and 
patriotic member? of Congress, attached to both political {»rtieg, ad- 
mitted, and proclaimed. Who shall allay this striie ? Again the 
eyes of the whole country are turned to Webster with intense anx- 
iety. He seems Yeluctant to break silence, preferring that the desired 
result should be brought about by others. He hesitates, because he 
knows that, this time, it will be necessary that multitudes at the north, 
who had forgotten their obligations to the Constitution, should be re- 
buked, and he would fain be excused fit>m administenng that rebuke. 
But peace comes not, the passions of men become more and more 
exasperated, and preparations are contemplated for a conflict of arms. 
Sense of duty will not permit him longer to remain silent, and on the 
' 7th of March, 1*50, Mr. Webster made his speech not less celebrated 
than that in reply to General Hayae. The effect of this speech was 
fiiTorable upon the country, but it brought upon its author such a 
storm of indignation as he had never before experienced- Of this 
production I mean to say nothing in commendatioo. at this time, but 
of this I am as fully satisfied as I can be, of any fact which none but 
the Searcher of Hearts can certainly know, that in delirering it Mr. 
Webster was impelled by the highest sense of duty. What he said 
was the result of the most profound meditation ; he knew precisely 
what he uttered ; he imderstood the full import of every proposition 
advanced, and the whole had the sanction, not only of his judgment, 
but his conscience. Nor did subsequent reflection, after he had 
learned all the objections to his coui^e, bring ^"ilh it any regrets. In 
the legislative action required to pass the Compromise Measures, and 
give them the force of law, Mr. Webster co-operated with others, and 
indeed followed the lead of others. Whose individual exertion, where 
so many distinguished men exerted themselves, was most powerful in 
bringing about this result, it may be difficult to decide. But, afier 
the measures became laws, there was yet a work to perform, and in 
this work Mr. Webster's individual exertions and influence far ex- 
ceeded those of any other man in the country. Here he stood with- 



(30) 

GUI a rival : none could compete with him. This consisted in recon- 
ciiins the people to the laws which their representatives had passed. 
To one of these laws resistance was proclaimed — such resistance, it 
was declared, was not only justified but demanded by the laws of God 
himselt^ Under these circumstances, it became highly expedient that 
the law should be upheld by public sentiment — that sentiment re- 
quir^ii to be enlightened, and reasoned with. Mr. Webster came 
direcilr before the people, and to them he made his appeals. He 
found and made occasions to address letters, and prepare other docu- 
ments designed for publication, which were circulated by the public 
press of the country. He travelled through the State of Xew \ ork, 
and addressed the people assembled in large masses, at favorable 
pointss alons the great highways of the State. Never, on any occa- 
sions, were Mr. Websters addresses more earnest, and eloquent : 
never more elaborately prepared. The speeches at Buffalo and 
Ubany were unsurpassed by any similar efforts of his own. With 
what admiration, mixed with wonder, do we contemplate our depart- 
ed friend, on the verse of three score years and ten, imder the pres- 
sure of disease, standing, for two hours, at Buffalo, in the open air, 
drenched with rain, arguing, pleading with his assembled countrymen 
in strains of eloquence never surpassed by Demosthenes. Read that 
speech at Buffalo, my young friends — it is one of the finest models that 
you can study. 

I mar as well in this place, speak of the maimer in which Mr. 
Webster was accustomed to address popular assemblies ; it is well 
worthy of imi'"'' ". His preparation wr such addresses was as 
ihoroush and e.-,.. .-:e as for addresses to the Senate, or the Supreme 
Court of the United States. He never aimed to amuse his auditors ; 
but he sousht their instruction. His deference and respect for the 
pcpolar tribunal, seemed as great as that which he uniformly mani- 
fested for the senators or the Cotirts of law. I remember on one oc- 
casion to have visited, in company vriih Mr. Webster and others, 
some manufacturing establishments in the State of New Jersey. 
When the workmen had a recess for dinner, many of them came, in 
their working costume, to see him, and Mr. Webster was requested 
t^ v-Z'-ess them from the balcony of the hotel; he did so for three 
___ .rs of an hour, giving utterance, in pure and simple English, to 
trreat truths, which it concerned them, as men and citizens, to know. 
What he said was listened to with profound attention, evidently under- 
giood and tiiliy appreciated. His hearers, to the number of about four 
hundred, departed with a feeling of self-respect, arising from the &ct, 



(31) 

that thej had receired, from a distinguished person, not flatterr, Irjt 
tlie respect due to them as men and republicans. 

In the year 1837, Mr. Webster vivited the Western States for the 
purpose of making himself more thoroughly acquainted with the in- 
habitants of those States and their resources. He was met and 
greeted on the route by large masses of citizens, and his addresses to 
them were frequenL It was at this time, when seeing the reports of 
these addresses, that the renerable John Quincy Adams remarked to 
a friend, that Webster was doing more good than any man in the 
country. Indeed it may well be questioned whether any public man, 
whose desire is to preserve the institutions of the country, can do 
more good than to make plain, well considered, oral addresses to the 
people themselve on political subjects. But efforts of this sort can 
never succeed unless he who makes them deals honestly aud fairly 
with his subject ; like Mr. Webster he must state facts truly, and 
reason ingenuously, with an evident desire to arrive at the truth. In 
speaking of Mr. Webster as a debater, his £reat rival, Calhoun, re- 
marked to Mr. Bayly, a member of the House of Representatives, 
from Virginia, that he was remarkable in thi?, that he always stated 
the argument of his opponent (airly and lx)ldly met it. He had even 
seen him slate the ari---'" • nt of his opponent more forcibly than his 
opponent had stated n . .i', and if he could not answer it, he would 
never undertake to weaken it by his representatiou. Mr. Webster, 
more than any statesman of his day or generation, may be regarded 
as a great public instructor.- He instructed bis own profession, he 
exhorted young men in College — hear him discourse to the students oi 
South Carolina College : — 

** Let me say to each of you, ** Cai-pe Ditm^"' art is long, and 
science profound ; and literature in our day is various and eilensive. 
But you have youth and health and the means of culture and improve- 
ment, and can accomplish great objects. With you it is the briffht 
and breezy mom of life. A long day, I irujit, is before you. Let me 
advise you to be early in prosecuting the great work, which in that 
day is to be done. Like the morning of the natural day, let the morn- 
ing of life begin with devotion to the Great Giver of all good, and let 
every succeeding hour of that life be filled with acts of duty and friend- 
ship, and private and public beneficence. The evening of such life 
will be full of hopes for a better, and all will be cheered and consoled 
by 

" tint which riioald lecompaaj- old age. 

As honor, k>ve, obedienee, troops of friends. 



( 32 ) 

" Young gentlemen, all my good wishes attend you ! May you 
here sow, with liberal broadcast, the seeds of a future harvest of 
honor to yourselves, gratification to your friends, and usefulness to 
your country." 

He instructed his fellow-citizens in their political rights and civil 
duties — he instructed states and nations in the law which should gov- 
ern their intercourse with each other ; and through all his instruc- 
tion, there is an infusion of high-toned morality — Christian morality. 
Nor in communicating instruction did he overlook the sex, which he 
honored, as he honored his own mother, to whose maternal tenderness 
and early teachings, he acknowledged himself chiefly indebted for 
whatever excellencies were found in his OAvn character, and what- 
ever eminence among his fellow-men his exertions enabled him to 
attain. No man knew better than himself, the obligations which 
American liberty was under to the mothers and wives, and sisters, 
who sent forth their sons, their husbands, and their brothers to suffer 
hunger and cold, and nakedness — the privation of every domestic 
comfort, and meet death itself, in the Revolutionary contest ; regret- 
ting to part with them, hoping to meet them again, but desiring above 
all things, that they should acquit themselves like freemen, and willing 
to see their faces no more for ever, if the cause of Independence and 
Liberty required the sacrifice of their lives. 

Hear him discourse to the ladies of Richmond, Virginia : — " If we 
draw within the circle of our contemplation the mothers of a civilized 
nation, what do we see ? We behold so many artificers working, not 
on frail and perishable matter, but on the immortal mind, moulding 
and fashioning beings who are to exist forever. We applaud the artist 
whose skill and genius present the mimic man upon the canvas ; we 
admire and celebrate the sculptor who works out the same image in 
enduring marble ; but how insignificant are these achievements, 
though the highest and the fairest in all the departments of art, in 
comparison with the great vocation of human mothers ! They work 
not upon the canvas that shall fade, or the marble that shall crumble 
into dust, but upon mind, upon spirit, which is to last forever, and 
which is to bear, for good or evil, throughout its duration, the impress 
of a mother's plastic hand." 

Will the ladies present allow me to commend to their perusal and 
study the whole of this noble address, which treats their sex not as 
triflers, demanding only from man expressions of admiration for their 
charms, but as immortal beings who have important duties to perform, 
and high responsibilities to dischaige. 



(33) 

It is fortunate for mankind that the lessons of wisdom inculcated 
by Mr. Webster are on record ; that this record has been made up 
under his own supervision. It cannot be obliterated or altered — the 
world has it ; by that record he will be judged ; and to that judgment 
i know that Daniel Webster looked forward with calmness and with 
confidence. However he might be regarded by his contemporaries, 
he believed that posterity would do him justice. 

I cannot but think that in the colleges and halls of learning of his 
native land, there ought to be cherished for the memory of Daniel 
Webster a feeling of gratitude, not entertained for any statesman 
among the living or the dead. In a country where eloquence is des- 
tined, through all time, to exert a powerful influence, and the attain- 
ment of it to be one of the highest objects of ambition, he has, by 
unwearied study, and the exercise of the most exquisite taste, furnish- 
ed models of this noble art — models by which coming generations of 
American citizens will be taught how to think clearly, reason fairly, 
and clothe thought in the purest and simplest English. It is glory 
enough for every American that Webster's language is his native 
tongue. 

The great annual celebration of this time-honored institution, a 
century hence, will, I doubt not, find her ample halls crowded with 
the votaries of learning. If then permission should be granted to those 
among the illustrious dead, whose works had been most carefully 
preserved here, and whose memory had here been cherished with the 
fondest admiration, to be present at the scene, clothed in their mortal 
habiliments, we may well suppose that eager curiosity would first seek 
out among the vast multitude, Demosthenes, and Cicero, and Web- 
ster, even before the cry was heard — v/here are Homer, and Virgil, 
and Milton ? 

But the claims of Mr. Webster to the gratitude of his country rest 
on other services than those to which I have referred. He was con- 
nected, for a few years, under two appointments, with the Executive 
department of the Governments. Here he had an opportunity of 
showing his administrative ability, and if no other records remained 
of Mr. Webster's public services, than those to be found in the de- 
partment of State, there would be sufficient to place him among the 
most distinguished statesmen of his country, and the most renowned 
publicists of the world. 

In conducting the foreign relations of the country, he constantly 
aimed to accomplish two great leading objects : 

1st. The maintenance of peace ; honorable peace with all nations. 

5 



(34) 

2d. To cause liis country to bo regarded as one of the great na- 
tions of the world, and respected, honored and feared as such. 

What he did in furtherance of these objects, is well known, and 
need not here be specified, especially what he did to establish peace 
between this country and Great Britain, upon a firm and enduring 
foundation, by the adjustment of existing controversies, and removing 
all causes of discord and hostility. The treaty of Washington was 
negotiated between Mr. Webster and Lord Ashburton. By this treaty 
the north-eastern boundary of the country was fairly and satisfactorily 
settled ; proper satisfaction and apology were obtained for an aggres- 
sion on the soil and territory of the United States ; proper and safe 
stipulations were entered into for the fulfillment of the duty of this 
Government, and for meeting the earnest desire of the people in sup- 
pressing the slave trade ; in pursuance of these stipulations, a degree 
of success in the attainment of that object was reached wholly un- 
known before ; crimes, disturbing the peace of the two nations, were 
suppressed ; the safety of the Southern coasting trade was secured ; 
impressment of seamen was struck out of the list of contested questions 
among the nations, and finally, and more than all, much was done to 
add lustre to the American name and character. 

The letter to M. Hulsemann was extensively read abroad, and it 
made known to the governments and people of Europe, more than any 
state paper ever issued before had done, the resources and power of 
the great Republic of the world. Millions were then reminded, and 
many for the first time learned, that " the power of this republic, at 
the present moment, is spread over a region, one of the richest and most 
fertile on the globe, and of an extent in comparison with which the 
possessions of the House of Hapsburg are but as a patch on the earth's 
surface. Its population, already twenty-five millions, will exceed that 
of the Austrian Empire within the period during which it may be 
hoped that M. Hulsemann may yet remain in the honorable discharge 
of his duties to his government. Its navigation and commerce are hardly 
exceeded by the oldest and most commercial nations ; its maritime means, 
and its mairtime power, may be seen by Austria herself, in all the seas 
where she has ports, as well as it may be seen also in other quarters of 
the globe. Life, liberty, property, and all personal rights arc amply se- 
cured to all citizens and protected by just and stable laws ; and credit, 
public and private, is as well established as in any government in Con- 
tinental Europe. And the country, in all its interests andconc erns, 
partakes most largely in all the improvements and progress which dis- 
tinguish the age. Certainly the United States may be pardoned, even 



(35) 

by those who profess adherence to the principles of absolute govern- 
ments, if ihey entertain an ardent affection for those popular forms of 
political organization which have so rapidly advanced their own pros- 
perity and happiness, and enabled them in so shortaperiodtobringtheir 
country, and hemisphere to which it belongs, to the notice and respectful 
regard, not to say admiration, of the civilized world." That masterly 
document, which may be called official, and which has been trans- 
lated in many of the languages of Europe, ' Mr. Webster's address 
on laying the corner stone of the enlarged capitol of the United States,' 
was prepared for a like purpose as the letter to M. Hulsemann. It 
may be truly said that the government of the United States, and the 
true character and tendency of our institutions, were never so well 
known and so highly honored and respected, throughout the civilized 
and uncivilized world, as at this moment ; and that Mr. Webster has 
contributed more largely to this result than any one of his cotempo- 
raries. This is something to say for the son of a New England farmer, 
whose eyes first opened upon the light of day amid the snow drifts of 
New Hampshire, seventy-one years ago this day. 

The practical ability and efficiency of Mr. Webster as an adminis- 
trative officer can not be fully learned from his official dispatches as 
Secretary of State ; they can be known by those only whose inter- 
course with him, officially, made them acquainted with his admirable 
tact, address, industry and skill in the management of negotiations, 
and dispatching the business of the State Department. It has been 
thought by many of Mr. Webster's most intimate and intelligent 
friends, that his ability as an executive officer of the Government sur- 
passed his ability as a Senator and oral debater. 

I now proceed to consider another topic. 

The doctrine always avowed by political conventions, of entire and 
unhesitating belief that the people are capable of self-government, 
was heartily embraced by Mr. Webster, without any mental reserva- 
tion. It requires very little sagacity to see that if this proposition is 
not true, the experiment of Republican Government must fail, and the 
question is only one of time when this disastrous result shall be made 
manifest. 

This faith of Mr. Webster's was not one without works ; it was a 
living, active faith. He believed, too, that a majority of tiie people had 
a right to govern. No statesman in our country ever did so much to 
establish principles by which the judgment of a majority should be fully 
ascertained and fairly expressed. His own habit, as has been shown, 
was, whenever it was practicable, to appeal directly to the people, in 



(36) 

the employment of {Iiir arguments, and by a candid statement of the 
case. That the people themselves were gratified by this mode of 
proceeding is shown by the undeniable fact, that no public man in 
the country, during a long course of years, ever drew audiences to hear 
him speak, so numerous as those who waited on Mr. Webster. The 
speeches of no other man were ever published by the press of the 
coimtry with so much alacrity, and read with so much avidity. He 
sought, too, to keep the channels open and clear through which the 
public sentiment ordinarily flowed. That the will of the majority 
should be obeyed, every republican professes to believe, but how that 
will shall be ascertained, so as to secure the admitted right of the 
majority, is a problem of difficult solution, in the practical working of 
our popular systems. That fraud and intrigue are constantly at work 
to make that appear to be the sense of the community which never 
received the approbation of the majority, is well knovv'n. In justifi- 
cation of such proceedings, the principle, after being long acted upon 
without avowal, has been unblushingly proclaimed that " all is fair 
in politics." This principle has received the scorching rebuke of 
Mr. Webster, as has every other principle, and every practice in our 
country, designed or calculated to defeat a fair expression of the po- 
pular will. He has labored, too, more than any other public man, 
to have that will directed Ijy right principle. The elective fran- 
chise, as he has shown, rightly viewed, is a trust in the hands of every 
citizen entitled to exercise it. He may have the power, but he has 
not the right to exercise this franchise capriciously, to gratify his 
private whims, or partialities, or antipathies, but he is bound to exer- 
cise it for the benefit of the whole community. He has endeavored, 
by the whole force of his talent, to work this principle into the public 
mind, and call to its support the public conscience, wisely judging 
that right principle, in morals or in politics, which are a part of morals, 
is the source of right action. 

In his last speech delivered on the floor of the Senate, he exposed 
the fallacy of the pernicious doctrine that the representative is bound 
to sacrifice his own will and judgment, and speak the will of his con- 
stituents. Who were his own constituents as a Senator ? The peo- 
pie of Massachusetts — but \}e held to the doctrine that as a senator of 
the United States, he was entrusted with the interests of the whole 
people of the United States ; he was under obligations to seek, by all 
that he did, not the welfare and prosperity of a part only, but of the 
whole. 

In the State of Rhode Island, an attempt was made, a few years 



(37) 

ago, to collect the sense of the people, by an unorganized assembly, 
without the forms of law, but Mr. Webster showed that the proceed- 
ing was contrary to American Repulilican usage. That by this usage 
there must be a regular action of popular power, that such action 
placed upon Republican liberty the most beautiful face that ever 
adorned her angel form. All was regular and harmonious in its fea- 
tures, and gentle in its operation. The stream of public authority, 
under American liberty, running in this channel, has the strength of 
the Missouri, while its waters are as transparent as a crystal lake. 
It is powerful for good. It produces no tumult, no violence and no 
wrong : 

" Though deep, yet clear — though gentle, yet not dull ; 
Strong without rage — without o'erflowing, full." 

Yet, after all, what is popular liberty itself, without restraints which 
the people are willing to impose on themselves. Whence come these 
restraints, but from intelligence to see their necessity, and moral and 
religious sentiment to guide that intelligence ? What man has ever 
more insisted upon the cultivation of the sentiment inspired by morality 
and religion, as essential to the preservation of liberty, than Mr. 
Webster ? Almost every page of his voluminous works is radiant 
with such teachings. 

Nor has his practice been inconsistent with these precepts. He 
has insisted always upon good faith and just dealing in all the trans- 
actions between State and State, and nation and nation. 

The just, clear, and profound views of American liberty, entertain- 
ed by Mr. Webster, and his strenuous and enlightened efforts to guard 
the foundations of that liberty, and to support and rear yet higher its 
superstructure, constitute his glory as a statesman. 

It is proper that I should speak of Mr. Webster as a member of the 
bar. Before he decided to pursue the profession of the law, he de- 
liberated profoundly on the subject, and he thus concludes a letter to 
a friend, written when he was twenty years old : — "If I prosecute the 
profession, I pray God to fortify me against its temptations. To the 
winds I dismiss those light hopes of eminence which ambition inspired, 
and vanity fostered. To be ' honest, to be capable, to be faithful ' to 
my client and to my conscience, I earnestly hope will be my first en- 
deavor. I believe you, my worthy boy, when you tell me what are 
your intentions. I have long known and loved the honesty of your 
heart. But let us not rely too much on ourselves — let us look to some 
less fallible guide to direct us among the temptations that surround us." 



(38) 

Before the Charleston Bar, in 1847, he said — " Let me say, gentle- 
men, that I love our common profession, and I love all who honor it. 
I regard it as the ornament, and one of the chief defenses and securi- 
ties of free institutions. It is indispensable to, and conservative of 
public liberty. I honor it from the bottom of my heart. If I am any 
thing, it is the lavi' — that noble profession, that sublime science which 
we all pursue — that has made me what I am. The law has been my 
chief stimulus, my controling and abiding hope, nay, I might almost 
say, my presiding genius and guardian angel." 

I have not the slightest doubt that Mr. Webster is more indebted 
to the mental training and discipline of the bar, for his eminence as a 
logician, and a debater, than to any other cause whatever. There is 
no profession or calling that so thoroughly disciplines the intellectual 
powers, as the study of the law, and practice in the courts, provided 
always, that one has the good fortune to meet able opponents, and 
practices under the eye of a learned and discriminating bench. The 
man who is to be followed in debate by a keen and watchful opponent, 
capable of wielding the weapons of logic, ridicule and sarcasm, and an 
able and learned judge, will be careful what statement of facts he 
makes, what propositions he lays down, and what arguments he em- 
ploys. Beyond all doubt, Mr. Webster's friend, Jeremiah Mason, 
was greatly instrumental in training him for the great intellectual con- 
tests in which he afterwards engaged. At the bar, too, his powers 
have been more tasked, his mind more severely exercised, than in any 
other branch of his pursuits. I have no doubt, that a greater amount of 
thought was bestowed on his brief, and employed in his argument, in 
the Dartmouth College case, than was required to negotiate the treaty 
of Washington, or to make any one of his senatorial efforts, not ex- 
cepting the reply to General Hayne. 

The cases in law, in which questions of great public interest and 
importance were discussed by Mr. Webster, and some of which are 
settled in conformity with his views, are : 
1st. The Dartmouth College case. 

In this case, the Legislature of New Hampshire passed an act to 
enlarge and improve the charter of Dartmouth College. The question 
was, whether that charter could be altered without the consent of the 
corporators, a question in which all colleges, and charitable institu- 
tions, endowed by those who founded the same, have a deep interest. 
All these, Mr. Webster contended, had a common principle of exist- 
ence, the inviolability of their charters. He succeeded, by one the 
most learned and logical arguments ever heard in a court of justice, 
in maintaining their inviolability. 



(39) 

2d. The second was the case of Gibbons & Ogden, in which the 
argument was made in 1824. 

This case came up on an appeal from the highest court of law and 
equity in the State of New York, which gave an exclusive right to 
Robert R. Livingston and Robert Fulton, and their assigns, to navi- 
gate all the waters within the jurisdiction of the State, was unconsti- 
tutional and void. Mr. Webster demonstrated this proposition, and 
the decision of the State of New York, concurred in by all the dis- 
tinguished members of the judiciary of that State, were overruled, and 
freedom given to steam navigation in the waters of New York. 

3d. The case of the Girard Will, in which Mr. Webster vindicated 
the Christian ministry, and demonstrated the necessity of the religious 
instruction of the young. 

4th. The Rhode Island case. This case fully sets forth, elucidates, 
and vindicates the principles upon which political organizations are 
formed, and maintained, according to American republican usage. 

It remains that I should briefly refer to Mr. Webster as an agri- 
culturist. He loved agriculture — he was a practical as well as a 
scientific farmer. His public speeches in England, and in this coun- 
try at agricultural exhibitions, have been extensively published, and 
are contained in his works. Mr. Webster understood practical agri- 
culture in all its branches — rotation of crops — manuring — planting and 
growth of trees — rearing of stock, &c. When absent from one or 
both of his farms, he corresponded with his overseers as to all the de- 
tails of farming operations. This correspondence will, no doubt, be 
published, and will form an interesting and useful addition to his 
works. He took great pleasure in the pursuits of practical agricul- 
ture — but a few days before his death, he caused his stock to be driven 
up and exhibited to him on his lawn, in front of his house. 

I have thus very briefly and imperefectly sketched the character of 
Mr. Webster in his j)rivate and domestic relations, and also as an 
orator, debater, statesman, lawyer, and agriculturist ; allow me, in 
conclusion, once more to refer to his habits of industry. 

I have said that 1 once met him at Albany ; I will give you the his 
tory of his employments that day, as illustrating his ability to labor, 
(and this is by no means a singular one,) at that period of his life. 
He was then sixty-nine years old, and not in the enjoyment of good 
health. He rose, we have seen, at three o'clock in the morning ; he 
employed himself until breakfast time in preparing his speech — he 
then went to breakfast with the Governor of the State — after break- 
fast he was accompanied by the Governor on a visit to the public in- 



( 40 ) 

stitutions of Albany— at eleven o'clock he was waited on by the ladies 
of ihat plact — al one o'clock he addressed several thousand citizens 
in the open air, an hour and a half— at the conclusion of his speech 
he was a«niin waited on by such gentlemen as chose to call — after- 
wards he dined wiih several hundred of the young men of Albany, 
where there was the usual amount of public speaking, and he was 
called upon and addressed the gentlemen present in a speech distin- 
guished for eloquence. Afterwards a torch-light procession was form- 
ed, ami accompanied him to the steam-boat, destined for New York — 
there he took leave of Governor Hunt and other friends, and at ten 
o'clock at night retired to his state-room. 

Now here was a day of active, and, for a portion of it, severe men- 
tal exercise, for nineteen hours continuously. Let me ask — " is there 
a member of the Senior Class present who would not have fainted in 
such a day of trial ?" Yet I can bear testimony that so far from being 
exhausted by these labors, Mr. Webster made his appearance on the 
deck of the steam-boat before sun-rise the next morning, as fresh and 
clear as I ever saw him. I took leave of him at a very early hour at 
the Astor House, and again saw him, by appointment, after breakfast. 
Yet, gentlemen I there are Americans who tell us — I could not write 
what 1 am about to say, without blotting the manuscript with my tears — 
there are Americans who tell us that the mind of Daniel Welister has, 
for years past, been daily besotted by sensual indulgence — that mind 
which was always active, except during the hours of sleep, working 
out important conclusions by clear processes of thought — that mind 
which for thirty years has been laboring, with the power of a steam- 
engine, for the benefit of the country — and the results are before the 
world — that mind which, down to the very hour, and in the very article 
of death, was as clear as the setting sun without a cloud, and as lumin- 
ous too — that mind which, as I believe, for the very purpose of assert- 
ing its superiority over the weak and sinking body, in the very em- 
brace of death, dictated the cry, in a voice as loud and clear as that 
which I now utter, " I yet live." Yes ! — thine enemies live also — 
but thy country, that country which thou hast loved, and served, and 
honored, will guard thy fame — enjov thy repose, illustrious im- 
mortal ! 



39 



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